Prince Baltasar Carlos in Black and Silver, c.1640 (oil on canvas)

Prince Baltasar Carlos is shown wearing the Order of the Golden Fleece which he received on 24 October 1638, just after his ninth birthday. The prince appears a little older than in the studio portraits of him in armour, which are generally dated to 1639. Although now very worn, the competent execution of the portrait suggests that it was probably produced in Velázquez’s studio. In the eighteenth century it belonged to Sir Joshua Reynolds who, according to his pupil James Northcote, extensively restored it. Recent technical analysis has corroborated Northcote’s account. The repainted areas show drying defects, such as cracking and the emergence of paint along cracks, which are comparable to phenomena observed on Reynolds’s own paintings.